Clashes in western Mexico leave 20 gunmen and 2 federal police dead

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Clashes across the Mexican state of Michoacan (meech-wah-KAHN’) have killed at least 20 gunmen and two federal police officers.

The Mexican government says gunmen blocked roads and ambushed police patrols in at least six different spots in the violence-plagued state Tuesday.

Fighting between the Knights Templar drug cartel and federal police has been intensifying over the past week in western Mexico. At least four police officers have been killed in shootouts with gunmen in Michoacan since Thursday.

Self-defense squads have been forming in recent months by people who say they are fighting violence, kidnappings and extortions carried out by drug cartels.

Also yesterday, authorities in the northern state of Chihuahua said police found the bodies of six men in a remote village where several homes and cars were set ablaze.